A Rose By Any Other Name
by Caramel Custard
Summary: Tamaki finds himself in a world not his own- he's in the world of a commoner, and living out the life of one. When attending Ouran Public High School, he finds his friends are all enemies; is there any way for him to get things back they way they were?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey there, Cama-chan here!**

**I've always wanted to write an Ouran High School Host Club Fan Fiction, and I've finally done it! Ta-da!**

**I hope you really like it, I can't remember when the idea occurred to me, but I've had it for quite a while. I'm positive someone else has probably had the same idea before, but I haven't seen any, so I decided there shouldn't be any problems.**

**Also, if you think I own the characters depicted in this story, I think you're missing the point of Fan Fiction.**

__

_Ah, my head hurts…_

Tamaki's head was pounding, each pulse of pain bringing him closer and closer to consciousness.

_And why is my bed so uncomfortable?  
><em>

At first, the pampered aristocrat came to the conclusion that he must have fallen out of his bed.

He had a feeling that he had dreamt _something, _but he couldn't quite remember what.

"Tamaki, are you awake?"

Tamaki used all his strength to open his eyes, seeing as though the voice of his father was calling him.

Wait… his father?

His father was meant to be on an important business trip.

Hold on, something else was off.

_That roof… _He thought to himself _…it's far too close._

After a moment of staring at the unusually low roof, he decided to sit up and sort out whatever mishap had to just so happened to have happened.

Sitting up, Tamaki rubbed his head through his vast golden tresses of hair.

"Tamaki, you're going to be late for school."  
>Again, his fathers voice.<p>

Normally his father would have nothing to do with his morning routine, let alone being the one to wake him up.

"Ah, y-yeah," Tamaki began, looking around. "I'm coming in a-" He was cut short as his words caught in his throat.

Where on earth _was _he?

Tamaki again looked around himself, at a loss for words.

"Tamaki? Are you alright in there?" His father asked, peering into the small room where his son currently resided.

"D-dad?" He whimpered, looking at his father.

As his father entered the room, Tamaki noticed that he was wearing a suit, as usual, although it certainly was _not _and expensive suit.  
>In fact, it almost looked like a commoner's suit.<p>

"Tamaki, what's the matter?" His father began to approach him, "Do you have a fever or something?"

"N-no!" Tamaki spluttered, suddenly standing from the flat bed that had been on the floor this whole time.

He grabbed his head, it still hurt a bit, but he had just stood up far to quickly, and felt dizzy for a moment.

Once he had regained his composure, Tamaki looked his father in the eyes.

"Where are we?"

His father relaxed a little and smiled a goofy smile. "Why, in Japan, of course."

"No, that's not what I meant." Tamaki removed the hand from his head and tried to straighten up, "Whose house are we in? Is it Haruhi's?"

"Haruhi?" His father asked, clearly confused. "Who is Haruhi?"

Tamaki Squeaked, something was wrong, something was very very wrong!

From all that he had gathered so far, that was pretty much a given, but if his father didn't know who his own son's darling daughter was then something had to be even more wrong! Almost impossibly wrong!

It's not like Tamaki didn't talk about Haruhi, in fact, with the amount he did, His father would probably know more than he needed to about Haruhi.

"S-stop joking around," He almost cried out, "Don't tell me you've forgotten about my Haruhi!"

"Your Haruhi?"

"Yes of course, she's my daughter!"

"You have a daughter?"

Even Tamaki could see that this was going nowhere, so he decided to start this portion of the conversation again.  
>"Can you just tell me whose house this is?"<p>

"Why it's ours."

It took Tamaki another moment to register this into his mind; this was their house? But the Souh family was rich and prosperous! No property they owned would be quite this drab tasteless and well… _common._

There was no denying it, this was a commoner's dwelling, and Tamaki's father was claiming they lived here.

"But… what about the mansion? The second estate?"

"Look Tamaki" His face went serious, as though honestly concerned for his son's sanity. "You must have had a strange dream, and aren't quite awake yet. I know it's been hard adjusting after the move from France, but you'll get used to it."

Tamaki just looked at his father in shock.

He was serious, his father wasn't joking.

"But for now you need to get ready for school, you're going to be late."

_The move from France? But that was years ago!_

"Your uniform is hanging up over there," His father pointed to the open sliding wardrobe just over one side of the small room. "You know where school is right? I have to leave for work now, and don't have time to hold your hand the whole way." He was smiling a little again, now.

Tamaki wasn't sure of anything anymore, so he shook his head left and right as an answer.

"Okay here," He started, pulling something out of his pocket. "This is a map of the area, your new school is here." He pointed to a small building located on the map as he handed it to his son.

"I have to go now, but are you sure you're alright?"

A small "Yeah" managed to escape Tamaki's lips, but he knew for a fact that wasn't true.

He was freaking out a fair bit, inside his mind anyway; his body was just in shock.

Without another word, Tamaki's father stood up and left the room.

A moment after, Tamaki heard what sounded like a front door slamming shut.

So now he was alone.

"What on earth is going on?" He yelled to nobody in particular.

The school on the map defiantly was _not _Ouran Academy; it was someplace else.

Since he had no better ideas, Tamaki walked wearily over to the wardrobe, seeing the uniform inside.

It was a general looking suit-jacket made of some cream-colored material.

It was not ritzy or fancy in any way, just a normal commoner's high school uniform.

Without further question Tamaki put it on to find that it fit perfectly, it was obviously prepared for _him. _

He slowly pushed on the door of 'his' (supposed) room, to find a small, thin hallway on the other side. There were two doors in the hallway, but the end didn't have a door, it was just open into what looked to be a kitchen of sorts.

Cautiously, he stepped out of his room, almost as if he was expecting something to blow up in his face, it's not like it would surprise him much at this point.

Upon entering the kitchen, he noticed a small basket of fruit on the bench; he then reached for an apple. He may as well eat, and maybe it would help him feel better.

After picking up the apple, he took a large dramatic bite out of it.

To his disappointment, it was delicious.

Now, normally finding that a food you were eating was delicious would be a good thing, but for Tamaki, noticing that he could taste it's every juice, it confirmed for him that he was not, in fact, dreaming.

He looked around the small Commoner's house a little, trying to clear his head but to no avail.

It wasn't unlike Haruhi's house, actually.

In fact, it was _quite _similar.

He recalled that his father had told him that he was going to be late for school if he dawdled too much longer, perhaps if he went he would be able to find some well-needed answers.

He noticed a satchel bag of sorts near the door with a nametag on it, and in turn, on the nametag, was his name.

Assuming it was his he picked it up and peered inside; he had a number of books and stationary items and a set of keys, there were other things inside, but he decided to take a closer look later.

He pulled out the keys and opened the door to his new house.

When he saw what was outside, he was still surprised, despite everything he had seen and tasted this morning.

This was just like Haruhi's home, it was a unit.

Shaking his head, he stepped into the outside world and closed the door behind him.

With shaky hands he eventually found the key he was after and locked the door.

It was a good thing he'd seen Haruhi do this before, or he would have forgotten completely.

He walked past many similar doors until he found a set of stairs, carefully descending them; he pulled out the map he had earlier deposited in his uniform pocket.

It didn't look like the school was far from where his father had written 'You are here' in big red letters.

Staring into the map almost the whole time, Tamaki _eventually _found what looked to be a commoner's high school.

He looked at the map and then up at the entrance, and then down at the map and up at the entrance again. This was defiantly where he was meant to be but he really didn't want to believe it.

The Plaque on one side of the entrance had in big Japanese characters, 'OURAN PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL'

Obviously Tamaki was still confused.

He stood at the gate for a while as he saw students walking in through the gates, not one of them stopping to ask if he was lost or okay. Although he was sure that he looked quite lost right now.

At last he took a deep breath and made an effort to move forward.

Just as he was about to take his second step he noticed the appearance of one of the students.

She was wearing the normal Ouran public high school's female attire, and had long silky brown hair, and the biggest brown eyes Tamaki had ever seen.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey there, me again! Here with another chapter.**

**This chapter starts to introduce the other host club members, and the troubles Tamaki will have to deal with here at Ouran Public High School.**

**Also, I don't own 'em, if I did, they'd still probably just be ideas and drawing on paper, so be greatful.**

"Haruhi!" Tamaki called out in a tone of utter joy, happiness and relief.

"Haruhi daddy's here!"

All the other students who had been previously walking looked over at the seemingly mad teenager.

The girl with long brown hair turned to face Tamaki, her hair swaying as she did so. There was no denying it; it _was _Haruhi. There was no other way.

However what happened next, for some reason, Tamaki had not expected.

In the theater that is Tamaki's mind, he had expected something like this:

_"Tamaki-senpai!" She cried out, tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. "Tamaki-senpai I'm so confused" She said breathlessly as she ran into Tamaki's open arms._

"_Hush now, little one" He cooed, as he patted her long silky hair, "Everything will be alright, I know things have been strange since this morning but I promise I'll make everything better."_

_"Oh, Tamaki-senpai…"_

_Then all the students who were standing around them applauded in admiration and awe._

However, a little to Tamaki's disappointment, it did not turn out that way.

Haruhi looked at Tamaki in confusion for a moment before she heard a bell ringing, signaling the beginning of class.

She then turned away and dashed in the other direction towards one of the buildings.

Tamaki, arm outstretched, stared on in horror as his little girl ran away from him without so much as a wave of acknowledgment.

"Haru…hi…" he whispered; in all honesty he felt like crying. Nothing was going his way this morning.

He had woken up in a world that clearly wasn't his own and his own daughter had publicly rejected him. Life just wasn't fair.

After a moment longer of wallowing in self-pity, Tamaki felt a tap on his shoulder.

Turning around he noticed a tall student with smooth black hair and oval shaped prescription glasses.

"Kyoya…" He whispered to himself.

"I'm sorry what was that?" The tall boy asked.

"Oh nothing, I'm sorry." Tamaki snapped out of his daze and turned to face the boy. "My name is Tamaki, Tamaki Suoh."

"Suoh, is it? All right, my name it Kyoya Ootori. Class A."

It was just as Tamaki had expected, Kyoya had no idea who he was, even though normally they were best friends.

Tamaki's heart ached a little, as he pretended to have just met him.  
>"A pleasure to meet you." He smiled as sweetly as he could muster, hand outstretched and open, offering a friendly handshake.<p>

Kyoya, however, coldly ignored the handshake and continued saying what it was he had come to say.  
>"I hope you know that classes are about to begin; and I couldn't help but notice that you look a little lost."<p>

Tamaki pulled his hand back and placed in instead on the back of his neck, hoping that it had looked at least a little bit casual. "Oh, maybe a little bit; I'm new here."

"Do you know what class you're in?"

"Um, no…" He admitted, and somehow, felt a little stupid.

"Do you have your timesheet?"

"Oh uh…" He stuttered, "Let me just check."

Sure enough, after a while of rummaging though his bag, he found what looked to be a timesheet.

"Is this it?" He asked, triumphantly.

Kyoya just adjusted his glasses as he snidely remarked "Obviously."

A little taken aback, Tamaki looked at the sheet rather than his friend, biting his lower lip to hold back floods of oncoming tears.

"Oh, would you look at that," He attempted to keep his voice from wavering. "Looks like I'm in the same class as you."

"Well, that makes things easy." Kyoya sighed. "Just follow me then, I suppose."

As Kyoya began to walk off, Tamaki struggled to get the timesheet neatly back into his bag; and once he had finished he dashed off after the tall bespectacled teenager.

When they arrived at the classroom with the sign hanging above them that said 'Class A' Rather than waiting for Tamaki, who had started with a "So this is cla-" he just ignored him and walked into the classroom alone.

Tamaki strode inside himself to notice that most of the students were already sitting down, Kyoya off in one of the darker back corners.

"You must be Suoh, correct?" He heard a voice from the front of the classroom ask.

When he noticed that the only person standing there was the teacher, he replied instantly, feeling like some kind of novice. "Yes Ma'am." He replied.

"No need to be so formal," She chuckled.

She turned to the class and called them to grab their attention. "Class, we have a new student today," She explained. Tamaki could feel the butterflies fluttering in his stomach. "His name is Tamaki Suoh, please be sure to act welcome as always." The way she said it sounded like some sort of rehearsed recording that had been played over too many times.

As the class looked on and judged Tamaki, some guys joking about things and some of the girls smiling as they giggled with their friends, Tamaki smiled a little and felt like waving but refrained from doing anything that they may find odd.

"There's a desk over there." The teacher gestured towards a simple seat and a desk by the window. "I'm Ms. Kuji, your teacher." She explained.

"I-it's a pleasure." He smiled and bowed a little, before making his way hastily towards the vacant desk.

As the class began, Tamaki started to ponder things, such as why this was happening, whether or not he was dreaming all of this, if perhaps he'd hit his head and was now in a hospital, or maybe something even worse.

Casting his worries aside for a moment he tried to concentrate on the lesson.

If he was stuck here, he was still going to be a good person, and a good student, to say the least.

After listening to a lecture about ancient Japan, Tamaki's mind began to wander again.

He looked around himself wistfully, noticing Kyoya in the back taking notes about the lesson, he still felt down about how cold he had been towards him.

He would just have to make the best of the situation.

Tamaki then looked in front of himself, not at the textbooks sitting open on his desk, but at the boy sitting on the desk in front of him.

He hadn't noticed it earlier, but he was very short. Short and blonde. And he had a… stuffed animal? Could it be?

Holding back the urge to cry out his name, Tamaki looked on in shock as he recognized the back of another of his friend's heads.

_Mitsukuni Haninozuka…_

He stared intently at the back of the boy's head for a while before realizing something.

Honey was meant to be a grade ahead of him.

What was he doing in the same class as Kyoya and himself?

Before making up any theories, he saw one of the other students throw something and Honey's head.

It was a wrapped up piece of paper, nothing dangerous at least.

The next thing that Tamaki noticed was that Honey didn't react at all, he just stared down at his desk.

"Hey, pipsqueak." he heard one of the other students call out, almost as a whisper, so as not to be noticed by the teacher, but just loud enough for he and Honey to hear everything.  
>"You're in trouble now; the Hitachiins want to meet with you after class."<p>

Although Tamaki felt a little defensive at the derogatory way they had addressed his friend, he decided not to take action, so as not to draw unwanted attention to himself, but it also made him feel guilty.

Another thing was that he had no idea why meeting the Hitachiins after class was a way for Honey to be in trouble.  
>Where Tamaki was from, Honey and the Hitachiin twins got along fine together.<p>

Before questioning it any further he heard some of the other students near the one that had spoken to Honey laughing hoarsely to themselves, and then he noticed something else, Honey was shaking, considerably.

Whatever it was that 'meeting the Hitachiins' meant, it had Honey petrified.


	3. Chapter 3

Yodel, it's me once again, Bringing you another chapter from my series; "A rose by any other name"

**Sure, you probably already know that, right? **

**You're a smart kid.**

**That might keep you alive,**

**For now.**

**Also, I don't own any of these guys; they're just too cool for me.**

Tamaki jumped as he heard the school bell once again; he wasn't sure he was ever going to get used to that loud obnoxious thing, it wasn't _nearly _as melodious and enchanting as the chime at Ouran Private Academy.

As the students began to file out, Tamaki noticed that Honey was lingering back; he was about to approach Kyoya and ask him if he knew why Honey was in the wrong class, but Kyoya had already left.

_I guess he really doesn't want to be my friend… _he thought solemnly to himself.

Instead of pitying himself, Tamaki began to gather all of his books.  
>As he was nearing the finish of this task, Ms. Kuji approached him.<p>

"So, how did you like your first class?"

"It was good, thank you." He smiled sweetly as he stood up with his satchel in tow.

"Again, no need to be so formal." She laughed, "You can relax, okay?"

"O-okay." He was genuinely happy that someone was being nice to him in this messed up world.

As he was about to say something else, Ms. Kuji turned to Honey, who was still at his desk poking at his books.

"Haninozuka, what are you still doing here?" She snapped, a little harshly, to Tamaki's surprise.

Honey visually recoiled, and began to hastily gather his things and then proceeded to dash out the door.

There was an awkward pause before Tamaki hoisted his bag onto his shoulder and said "Well, I'll be off, I've got someone I need to see. Thank you again, though."

Ms. Kuji's kind demeanor returned. "Made friends already, have we?"

"Something like that."

"All right then, I'll see you again for Mathematics." And with that she stepped behind her desk again, assumedly to grade papers or something of that nature.

Tamaki dashed out of the classroom, he didn't want to lose sight of Honey.

Looking left and right between masses of students, he eventually spotted a student who was considerably shorter than most.**  
><strong>He was obviously going somewhere in a hurry, as he looked quite panicked.

Tamaki of course, having such long legs, didn't have any trouble keeping up with him, but he still kept his distance so that he wouldn't be noticed.  
>He had to find out what that student meant by Honey 'being in trouble because he had to see the Hitachiins.'<p>

He saw Honey walking into what looked to be a male toilet, and Tamaki paused for a moment before walking in after him.

When he was inside, he saw Honey looking into the large mirror by a set of sinks.

When Tamaki came in he must have made a loud noise because Honey turned and faced him.

Shortly after he looked down to cover his face, but in the moment they had locked eyes, Tamaki had seen a great amount of fear.

So as not to look weird or be accused of stalking Honey, (which was pretty much what he was doing.) Tamaki stepped into one of the cubicles and closed the door behind him.

There was a moment's pause before Tamaki heard the main door swing open and slam against the wall.  
>He heard laughing- he recognized those voices.<br>_  
>Kaoru, Hikaru… <em>he concluded.

There were other voices laughing, too, like a group of boys had followed them.

Honey made a kind of squeak in terror, as if he was a mouse who had been hiding, just found by a pair of identical cats.

"Well well well," He heard Hikaru begin, in a most derogatory manner. "Look who we've got here."

"P-please." He heard Honey's hoarse voice sob, it was possible he was crying, but Tamaki could only hear them, not see them. "Just l-leave me alone."

"Leave you alone?" Kaoru asked, with fake shock. "But you're just a little baby, leaving you alone would be _irresponsible._"

"Please, I-I didn't do anything!"

"That's not the point, pipsqueak." Hikaru continued, "The fact that you didn't do anything is the _problem._"

"Wh…what?" Honey whimpered, genuinely confused.

"You" The twins said in perfect harmony "Didn't give us your lunch money yesterday."

"B-but you never said-" Honey began in his defense.

"Give me that!" Hikaru snapped. Through a crack in the door Tamaki saw Hikaru snatch Usa-chan off of Honey, who looked shocked and distraught.

"Give me back my Usa-chan!" He demanded, with tear-stained eyes.

"No way," Kaoru spoke, "Only Baby's have stuffed animals like this; if you want to be a high school student, you need to learn to grow up."

"Yeah, we're just helping you." Hikaru added callously.

As Honey went to grab for Usa-chan out of Hikaru's high grasp, Tamaki saw one of the twins punch Honey in the gut.

As honey fell down to his knees, still crying, the other boys who had been watching on started laughing.

_This is cruel… _Tamaki thought …_these aren't my friends, they're just bullies!_****

With that final thought, Tamaki burst from the cubical he had been hiding in. "Unhand that Rabbit!" He cried out dramatically.

For a moment he pondered how strange it must have looked; someone bursting out of a toilet cubicle to proclaim such a thing, although at the moment it didn't really matter.

"And who the heck-" Hikaru asked, with Kaoru finishing. "-Are you?"

"I am Tamaki Suoh, and I've come to stop all this meaningless violence." He proclaimed.

Without waiting for a reply, he jumped over and snatched the bunny out of Hikaru's raised hand; he suspected Hikaru was too shocked to notice.

"Hey, what the heck do you think you're doing?" He snapped out of his daze, he went to kick Tamaki who easily defended himself. Kaoru came after him with a punch directed at Tamaki's face.

Unfortunately, Tamaki wasn't able to avoid the second hit so much, he was hit square in the cheekbone, and it hurt a fair bit.

However, Tamaki wasn't easily beaten, he could see that they were coming at him again, and much to his displeasure, he knew that he had to fight back.

With reluctance, he swung a punch at Hikaru, landing a direct hit.

It had actually felt pretty good; if it had been Kyoya or Mori, He probably wouldn't have been able to bring himself to lay a finger on them. But hitting the twins wasn't so bad; he hated to admit. Although, he's never truly want to hurt them, and it hurt his feelings to do so.

Using this moment as an opportunity, Tamaki swung his longer leg behind Kaoru's, and knocked him completely over.

Kaoru landed with a thud.

Although he hadn't actually beaten them up, Tamaki's heart hurt to see what he'd done, the faces that the Twins were pulling were especially heart wrenching.  
>That look of hatred cut him to the core.<p>

Not being able to take it any longer, he quickly helped Honey to his feet and handed him Usa-chan, then, taking the smaller boy's hand, dashed out the door and into the school's corridor.

Honey looked completely shocked, his eyes still red from crying.

Before the twins came out and confronted them again, Tamaki dragged a surprised Honey along the corridor in the direction of his classroom.

He noticed that the door was open, but Ms. Kuji wasn't inside.

Taking light of the situation, he pulled Honey into the classroom and closed the door behind him.

"Are you okay?" He asked, out of breath.

Honey sniffled a little, "Y-yeah…" He looked Tamaki in the eyes with those giant brown orbs of his. "You're Suoh… Tamaki, right? The new guy?"

Tamaki smiled a genuinely happy smile. "That's right, and you're who're you?"

"Mitsukuni… Mitsukuni Haninozuka."

"That's a cute name but…" Tamaki opened his eyes and looked as gentle as he could. "…Would it be alright if I called you Honey?"

For the first time since Tamaki had seen him, Honey smiled.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

There was a moment where both teenagers were just smiling at each other, both happy to have found a friend in each other.

Honey's face dropped, as he looked at the bruise forming on Tamaki's cheek. "That looks like it hurts." He murmured.

"Ooh, this?" Tamaki said, lightly tapping the colored skin, "I can barely feel it."  
>Although this wasn't altogether true, he wouldn't let Honey know that.<p>

"I-I'm sorry." Honey spoke quietly, looking down at his feet. "Because of me, you…"

"Don't be ridiculous." Tamaki deliberately interrupted. "This wasn't you're fault; you're not the one who punched me, were you?" 

"But it was me who you were defending when they hit you." He looked as if he was about to cry again.

Tamaki didn't want that; if Honey started crying, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep his own tears in.  
>"But that's okay." He explained seriously. "I knew I might get hurt if I stood up to them, but I knew it was the right thing to do, no matter what the cost."<p>

Honey looked up into Tamaki's deep, almost violet eyes.

"So no more crying, okay?"

Honey sniffed, "O-okay. Thank you, Suoh."

Tamaki almost scoffed at that last part. "How about you just call me Tamaki, okay?" He stood up straight and smiled down at the little teenager. "Or, Tama-chan, if you'd like." Recalling the endearing little term Mitsukuni had always used on him.

"Ok, Tama-chan," Honey smiled again. "Thank you."


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, before I get started here, I'd just like to share with you the suffering I went through to get this chapter to you.**

**It was 3:45 AM when I noticed that I had gotten a fifth review, in joy, and a lack of tiredness; I decided to start on the next chapter right away!  
>Upon turning on the lights, I noticed that the plastic chair I sit on at my desk was missing, so I set out to go outside and get another.<strong>

**When I got outside and closed the door behind me I noted that it was cold- so I went to take a step… *CRUNCH* Eh, what was that? *SQUELCH* Again? *CRACK* I then look down to find multiple snails and millipedes on the ground.**

**Oh, and I had bare feet.**

**Also, I apologize for my lack of knowledge when it comes to Japanese… anything.**

**I'm trying my best, okay? XD**

**Okay so, Now Tamaki's made friends with at least one of the host club members, but things are still awry with the others, and he hasn't even **_**seen **_**Takashi yet.**

**Also, Me. Do. Not. Own.**

Tamaki and Honey spoke for a while longer, sitting at their desks alone in the classroom. Honey had his chair spun around so that he was facing his new friend, who he was very grateful to.

Tamaki asked him all sorts of questions about himself, although they were things he most already knew, although a number of distinctive things had changed.  
>Honey was no longer a martial arts master, or at least that was what Tamaki gathered.<p>

But Honey was still Honey; he loved cute things and cake and that was what mattered most of all.

When asked about himself, he told Honey all the things he liked to do. He had to be careful not to say anything about being rich or prosperous, because in this world it seemed that his family was nothing of the sort.

He told Honey about how he loved to play the Piano and draw pictures in his notebook; he told him that he loved playing silly childish games because he thought they were fun.

It might not come as a surprise that Honey took a real shine to the taller blonde teenager.

"And that," He was finishing a story, "Is why you should never play the piano while trying to eat a pie, Honey-senpai,"

"Senpai?" Honey asked, a little taken aback.

"Oh well, t-that's not what I meant!" Tamaki tried to make up for his little slip of the tongue; he had been avoiding the subject of Honey's grade this whole time, hoping not to offend.

"No, it's okay." Honey smiled at him, a sad little smile. "I may be a year older than everyone in my class because I was held back a year, but I'm used to it now."

"Is that… why those brothers were teasing you?" Tamaki asked, honestly worried about what the answer would be.

"Yeah, and I think because I carry Usa-chan around with me." He squeezed the bunny softly, "Usa-chan is important to me, my Grandmother made it for me just before she passed away."

Tamaki didn't speak, but watched the seemingly young boy with sympathy in his eyes.

"I know it's babyish, but it's still important to me."

"I don't think it's babyish at all."  
>Honey looked up, again a little surprised, wondering what Tamaki would say next. "I think it's very sweet, and brave of you for not being ashamed of who you are, I think that's true strength, a real value that those Hitachiin brothers probably couldn't understand."<p>

Honey was about to say something back to him when they heard the school bell again- it was particularly loud in the classroom and caused both teenagers to jump.  
>After which they looked at each other with stunned faces and then proceeded to laugh.<p>

They were still laughing gleefully as other students began to enter the room.

While all the others started chatting and taking their respective places, Honey and Tamaki finally calmed down.

Tamaki had to wipe a tear away from his eye as he smiled one last time at his friend.

Turning his attention to the other students, Tamaki thought he saw Kyoya casting a questioning look his way, but he could have just imagined it, as Kyoya was now reading a book.

He looked over at the front of the class where Ms. Kuji had taken her place in front of the blackboard.

She began the class with roll call and then began discussing the meaning of "pie" Coincidentally; not without a few puns and badly placed jokes she had obviously prepared herself.

The class itself was a breeze for Tamaki, he'd never really questioned it since he'd grown up with it; but it occurred to him now that a rich person's education seemed much more vigorous, if not somehow more prestigious.

On occasion Ms. Kuji would ask the class questions, and if he were pointed out he would answer them with ease; much to the surprise of his fellow classmates.

Tamaki couldn't help but feel pleased with himself as he noted how much happier Honey seemed. Even from behind Tamaki could tell that the teenage boy was in a much better mood than he had been earlier that morning.

Although that wasn't a surprise, considering the torment he was put through for no good reason.

All of a sudden the memory of Hikaru and Kaoru's resentful faces appeared in the front of Tamaki's mind, and to say that it bothered him would be an understatement.

The way they looked at him with such hatred and malice in their eyes really got to Tamaki, and cut him up on the inside.

The twins where he was from would give him 'looks' every now and then, sarcastic or annoyed maybe, but never hateful.

It was while Tamaki was thinking on this that he noticed that class had already ended.

"Tama-chan…" Honey looked worriedly at his taller friend, "Your cheek is swelling up."

Tamaki dug through his bag for a moment before realizing that he wasn't in his own world; if he had been he would have had a mirror at the ready for sure.  
>Instead he turned to face the window besides his and Honey's desks, noticing that Honey was right, the side of his face was swelling up where Kaoru had punched him.<p>

"Maybe we should get you to the nurses office?"

"Oh no, it's really not all that bad." Tamaki assured with a dismissive wave of the hand, "I'm sure I don't need to go to the nurse."

"Well, at least we can get some ice for it."

Tamaki was about to protest for a moment again, before conceding. "Yeah, I suppose that does sound pretty good."

Honey showed Tamaki the way to the nurse's office where Tamaki asked Honey to go in and get the ice himself; he didn't want the nurse to see him and insist he have something else to fix it.  
>Somehow he felt the less of a problem this bruise was, the less of a pain it would be to Honey.<p>

"Here you are." Honey said as he handed the bag of ice cubes to Tamaki.

"Thank you, Honey." He smiled for a moment before wincing, realizing that even that much hurt.

Honey obviously picked up on it. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just fine."

He held the bag of ice up to his swollen cheek and sighed in content as the pain ebbed into numbness.  
>"Ahh, that's really good."<p>

Honey giggled a little at Tamaki's expression, as you can just imagine what it would have looked like. "So" He began, recovering from his short lived bout of giggles, "Where shall we eat lunch?" He opted.

"Oh, that's right!" Tamaki had one hand pointing upward in realization while the other sill held the ice pack to his face. "I didn't bring any lunch this morning."

"You didn't bring any?"

"Yes well- I was uh, a little scatterbrained this morning, see?"

Honey seemed to understand without the full story. "Well, it _was _your first day here. But don't worry, you can share some of mine."

As the two of them walked towards the courtyard, Tamaki holding the bag of ice to his face the entire time; honey explained how him mother always packed him much more food than he needed, and she had a tendency to spoil him rotten.

Eventually they found an empty spot at the base of a tree where they sat down.  
>Tamaki had decided in his mind already that he was not going to eat much, he didn't want to be rude or anything.<p>

That was, of course, before Honey got out his lunch.

It was in a large plastic bento-box, but he opened it to revel a large array of cakes and various other sweets.

"Sorry it's not much of a main meal, but I told you I had a sweet tooth, huh?"

"Wha? Oh no, it's fine. They look really tasty, actually."

"Well, I'm not planning on eating this much; so please- help yourself!" *

"Don't mind if I do!" Tamaki reached over with his free hand and picked out a small sweet looking piece of chocolate cheesecake. He took a big bite out of it only to be whisked away by an alluring combination of flavors.

Tamaki literally had sparkles around his face as he stared at the remaining cake in admonition. "Did your mother really make all this?" He asked, still in shock.

"Yeah, she's quite good, isn't she?"

"I'll say!" Tamaki burst out happily "Cake! Cake!" He cheered.

He stopped his cheering for a moment to notice a small group of girls giggling as they walked past in a hurry. One of them waved to him, seemingly to the other girls' amusement.

Tamaki, being the kind of guy that he was, smiled a big hearty smile and waved right on back, causing said girl to blush as they all dashed off in a cloud of giggles and whispering.

"You're quite popular with the ladies, aren't you, Tama-chan?"

"You have no idea, Honey." 

*** You're not fooling anyone Haninozuka; we all know you would eat all that cake to yourself.**


	5. Chapter 5

The rest of Tamaki's day went on without a hitch, he mostly stayed with Honey and just enjoyed his situation as best he could.

He saw Kyoya a few times, but didn't ever approach him, for fear of being rejected again.  
>Before he knew it though, it had come to the end of the day and he had to find his way home again.<p>

He stood at the gate waving as he watched Honey walk away waving back at him, smiling like a kid on his fourth birthday, or fifth; either one.

Before he knew it he was waving at nobody, and he just stood there, thinking for a moment.  
>Not really focused on anything in particular, just thinking.<br>His whole brain was just a muddle as things were, everything felt foggy and unclear, and he had no idea where to even start thinking.

He jolted out of his momentary trance to find that he was the only student left standing outside the school gate, and decided he should probably start walking, because standing still wasn't doing him any good.

Hoisting the strap of his bag up to his shoulder, he set off at a brisk pace; wondering briefly if his father would be home or not.  
>Back in his version of reality, he very rarely saw his father. Even in their own home, he would only occasionally see him at the dinner table; and even that wasn't a common occurrence.<p>

He wasn't exactly an expert on the subject of Commoner's work schedules, but he knew for one thing that Haruhi pretty much always ate with her father at night, at the very least.  
>That's one thing that he did miss, being an aristocrat such as himself.<p>

As Tamaki walked along the way, he began to recognize some of the scenery, he found it almost strange that his body seemed to know where it was going, almost as though he had walked this path many times before.

As he walked along people walking past would smile and wave, not as though they were about to approach him, but just as a friendly greeting to a stranger walking past.  
>Tamaki, of course, being the gentleman that he was, waved and returned a heartwarming smile to each of them.<p>

He was really beginning to appreciate the smaller things in a simple life. They weren't waving to him because he was rich or lived in a big house, they were waving at him for him.

Before he knew it, Tamaki had reached his home, or rather; temporary home until he found a way to get back to where he came from. Which was something he was sure that he would be able to handle. He hoped.  
>He unlocked the door with the key he had found in his bag earlier that day and let himself in.<p>

He put his bag besides the door and took one step forward.

It was then that he remembered that he didn't know this place; it wasn't where he was from, and he knew little to nothing about it. He had a moment of hopeless desperation, and just whimpered.

He didn't know what else to do but take a nap, he felt exhausted from such a long and strenuous day, so he went to his bedroom (after walking the wrong way twice) and laid down on the bed that he still had placed out from that morning; of course under the situation he hadn't even thought to put it away.

The bed was uncomfortable, but his body didn't seem to care; it just needed rest.  
>Tamaki's mind, however, was a different story.<p>

He missed his home. He missed his bed, his house, his Japan, but most of all; he missed his friends, he missed them terribly.

He had no doubt that Kyoya would be able to get Tamaki's senses straight and get them out of this pickle.  
>That's what Kyoya was good at. Keeping Tamaki out of trouble.<p>

Having Mori there would be sure to give him strength. No matter what he did, he always felt safer with Mori backing him up.

Honey would be able to cheer him up, too. The little Loli-boy had a talent for that.  
>Sure, he had a "Honey" here, but it wasn't quite the same. He couldn't talk to this Honey about their past experiences, or confide in him this problem.<p>

Even the twins at this point would be a comfort; their mischievous antics would be a healthy break from this heartbreak; and when the Twins got serious about something, they would be a great source of confidence, even for Tamaki.

And the mere thought of how Haruhi had ignored him bothered him more than he cared to admit, despite the fact that his Haruhi may very well have done the same thing. He knew that she wouldn't have really meant anything by it. She never did.

But none of them were here now; and that was the worst part about it. He felt completely alone. He WAS completely alone. And Tamaki just wasn't sure he knew how to deal with that.

As Tamaki wallowed in his own self-pity and isolation, his body fell into a restless and tired slumber.

* * *

><p>In a blur between a dream world and reality, Tamaki's mind wandered, feeling nothing but a dull buzz above some greater noise that he couldn't quite tune into.<br>It sounded almost like people talking in a badly soundproofed room, muffled and unintelligible; but there nonetheless.  
>Tamaki could feel his legs giving out under him, and he fell to the floor, yet didn't hurt himself.<p>

Wait, when did he wake up?

Or rather, when did he fall asleep?

Was this a dream, or-

"Suoh."

"Huh?" Tamaki heard his name, and tried to open his eyes, noting that everywhere was covered in some form of ethereal glow. If everywhere was even the right word to use; seeing as though there was nothing there. A white, misty and blurry kind of vibe was what Tamaki would chalk it up to. White nothingness.

"Tamaki Suoh!"

Again, Tamaki heard it. Louder this time. All the other muffled voices he had heard began to fade out, as one voice become clearer among the rest. A voice he was sure he knew, but wasn't overly familiar with.  
>"Who-who's there?" He asked back, with very little confidence, talking to this invisible stranger.<p>

"W-woah, you're actually there! I finally found you!" it called back, sounding excited, which only proved to further frazzle Tamaki's nerves.

Without having to say anything else, a large figure emerged from the ground. it was possibly a little smaller than Tamaki, but large enough to be alarming, for sure.  
>It twitched and and flopped into place until it became a recognizable shape. And turned out to be possibly the last thing Tamaki would have imagined.<br>"B-Beelzenef?"

"Yes, it is I! Beelzenef!" The large cat-puppet exclaimed "Or rather, Nekozawa, actually."

Tamaki was in a state of shock-and-awe. He hadn't known what to expect, of course; but whatever he'd been thinking, this wasn't it.

"Suoh; I will provide a quick explanation of what I can; but I must be quick, because I can't stay like this for long." Beelzenef's arms moved in turn with each thing he said, and Tamaki had to admit that it was kind of distracting. "Listen, Suoh. You have been transported to some other alternate dimension of sorts. Like a separate reality. This happened when the host club called on the black magic club for assistance with their halloween event, and during the preparations, a curse went terribly wrong. You were sent where you are now because of it, and you have left our reality."

Tamaki tried desperately to put the pieces together from what Nekozawa was saying. It was all blowing right over his head, and he was having a hard time catching what he was saying and actually processing it through his brain. Either way it still wouldn't have made much sense.

Alternate worlds? Different dimensions?

If Nekozawa had said all this to Tamaki a few days ago, he probably would have dismissed it in a second as more of his black magic talk, which Kyoya constantly insisted was nonsense.  
>But in light of Tamaki's current situation, he found himself starting to believe that what Nekozawa was saying might actually be true.<p>

"I can contact you here in this ethereal plane using Beelzeneff, but I won't be able to hold this connection here for much longer."

"W-wait!" Tamaki snapped out of his stupor, "So I don't exist in my world anymore? What about everyone else? Are they okay? Are they worried?"

"Everyone else is fine. You were the only one affected by this curse, Suoh... although Fujioka..."

Tamaki's breath hitched, Something's happened to Haruhi?  
>"Did something happen to him?" He asked with very little hesitation.<p>

"No, not exactly. But he has been acting strange since you left, frantic, even. I think maybe he was hit with a side-effect of the curse, perhaps?" Beelzeneff rubbed his chin as though the puppet was deep in thought. Right before Tamaki's eyes, he could see Beelzeneff begin to fade out to white, melding with the backdrop.

"Woah- d-don't leave! I need your help!"

"Ah, I'm not sure what help I'll be. I know about as much about this new world as you do. Actually; less, I would presume."

"Then how do I get back?" Tamaki asked in desperation.

"That I do not know, Suoh." Nekozawa sounded solemn. As though he truly understood the gravity of the situation. Which only scared Tamaki more."I will try again to contact you at some point, until then, stay out of trouble and don't mess up things on your side too much. We will speak again soon." He finished with a creepy laugh, as Beelzenef finally faded out of existence.

Tamaki cried out for him a few times but to no avail, he was alone again.  
>There was so much he wanted to ask, so much he wanted to know, but nothing he could do about it.<p>

As he finally stopped his efforts to reach Nekozawa, he felt something heavy come over him, and as though falling into darkness, he felt his body begin to wake up.

* * *

><p>AN: Woooah, Done. Finally.

I haven't written like.. anything... in a long time!  
>Anyway, I hope it wasn't too out-of-it after that huge break. I'd hate to have inconsistencies!<p>

Getting back into Ouran since we have an Ouran cosplay group coming up soon! (With myself as Tamaki, of course.) I'm excited to go around the convention with fake roses giving out hammy lines to all the girls. ha ha.


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